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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is clear in the first interaction between Mr. Coulson, Miss Coulson, and Mrs. Widdup?
(a) Mr. Coulson is used to having to trick Miss Coulson in order to get his way.
(b) Both Mr. Coulson and Mrs. Widdup are aware that Miss Coulson will disapprove of them having a relationship.
(c) Miss Coulson has no idea that Mr. Coulson has romantic intentions toward Mrs. Widdup.
(d) Mrs. Widdup is much more intelligent than she seems at first.

2. What information does Mrs. Widdup give Mr. Coulson that contradicts what Miss Coulson told him earlier?
(a) She tells him that Miss Coulson is upstairs sleeping.
(b) She tells him that Miss Coulson has had a very large ice order delivered.
(c) She tells him that his manservant has gone to the post office.
(d) She tells him that it is warm outside.

3. The narrator says,"Pixies and flibbertigibbits haunt the budding woods" (332). What is in the woods?
(a) Dangerous monsters and shallow, easily distracted people.
(b) Tricky supernatural creatures and people with evil intentions.
(c) Dangerous monsters and people with evil intentions.
(d) Tricky supernatural creatures and shallow, easily distracted people.

4. What does Miss Coulson's believe about love?
(a) That it is a pretense.
(b) That it is humiliating.
(c) That it is inconvenient.
(d) That it is overpowering.

5. When Mr. Coulson is irritated, he complains that no one in the house does what?
(a) Responds when he rings for a servant.
(b) Cares if he lives or dies.
(c) Attempts to entertain him.
(d) Listens to him when he speaks.

Short Answer Questions

1. There are "jonquils" near where Mr. Coulson is sitting. What are jonquils?

2. Where Mr. Coulson is sitting, two main smells are "battling": the smell of flowers and what other smell?

3. What is the first indication that Mrs. Widdup does not listen carefully?

4. What is the "twist" at the end of this story?

5. When the narrator lists the kinds of inappropriate relationships that May encourages, one of the items in the list is "old chaps" who dress up and "parade in front of the Normal School" (332). Who are these old men trying to impress with their fancy clothing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens overnight that changes Mrs. Widdup and Mr. Coulson's fate?

2. When rhetorical purposes are served by the passage where the narrator says that the scent of flowers was carried in through the window and "fought" with the scent of Mr. Coulson's gout medicine?

3. How does O. Henry use dry humor to reveal the narrator's opinion about Mrs. Widdup in the narrative intrusion on page 333?

4. What is Miss Coulson's plan to head off her father's budding romance?

5. How does O. Henry characterize the month of May?

6. How does O. Henry use verbal misunderstandings to characterize Mrs. Widdup when she first appears in Mr. Coulson's room?

7. What rhetorical purposes does O. Henry accomplish with his introduction of Mr. Coulson through a list of things that he "has," like gout, money, and a daughter?

8. What is the thematic significance of the olfactory image of the city in springtime?

9. What is the rhetorical purpose of the allusions to Puck and Circe?

10. When Mr. Coulson complains that no one in the house cares if he lives or dies, how does Mrs. Widdup's reply set the events of the story in motion?

(see the answer keys)

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